A bold reimagining of the city department store

When Myer announced they were closing their Fremantle store after 40 years, there were fears that the port city would become a shopping desert. But six months on, a very different retail experiment is aiming to breathe new life into the area.

The five-storey, windowless, white brick block that once housed Myer dominates King's Square in Fremantle, flanked by the historic town hall and St John's Church. It's the centre of the shopping precinct, with the shopping streets surrounding the square.

So when Myer announced last year that the store would close, citing poor sales and a customer preference for their stores in modern suburban malls, there was a certain amount of panic in the Fremantle business community that the city was emptying out and would cease to be a destination for shoppers.

But six months on, Myer has reopened as Myre, an alternative kind of department store.

The City of Fremantle engaged Beth George and Nic Brunsdon, who run a not-for-profit called Spacemarket, pairing fledgling businesses with vacant retail locations.

They're filling the building with designers, retailers, a chocolatier and even a hairdresser.

Beth George, who is an architect and academic, says Myre is their biggest project yet. Thus far only the ground floor retail space is open, but the other floors are due to open soon, hosting crafts people, arts, a gym, roof top bar and even a helipad.

Oddly familiar

The carpets, aisles and ceilings of the old store are still in place, but instead of retail clutter the stores are low impact and whole space has been left open.

Beth George says they encouraged businesses who were selling handmade or locally made, high quality stock.

"We've tried to create an immersive mode of retail. We're trying to hark back to what the initial idea of a department store was, where you walk in the door and it's a very satiating experience.

"We have a concept for the project which is 'strangemaking' - you take something that is known and familiar and you try and retain the qualities of that thing but then you begin to stretch its purpose and introduce new things so that on the whole, the experience is strangely familiar.

"We've tried to keep all the retail spaces very open and fluid, so that you can see from one end of the space to the other.

"There aren't any physical borders between the shops so you meander through in an unbroken pattern."

Freo renewal

For Mayor Brad Pettit, the Myre project feels like the start of a redefinition of the city centre as it begins to pull itself out of its doldrums.

"The future of retail of Fremantle won't be about competing with big box stores and suburban shopping centres," he says.

"It defines Fremantle as a hip, bohemian, artistic kind of place. That's what I want it to be. It feels like the Myre project is a great launch pad for that.

"It is at the heart of Fremantle's retail district. When this space works, everything around it starts to work better."

New Business

Milliner Kate Hulett worked in Myer years ago and even did her till training in the Fremantle store.

She's since gone on to build a successful millinery label in the UK, selling her hats to top department stores in Europe. When she decided to move home to Perth with her partner Matt, they were looking for a new way run to their business.

They've now set up a coffee shop adjoining their hat and lifestyle store in Myre.

"In the UK we could make a living from hats but probably not in Perth," she says.

"We really liked the idea of a concept store, which is quite popular in Europe, where customers can browse lots of interesting things and have a coffee and we thought we'd try that in Perth.

"We had been planning to open a stand-alone shop in the city. We were just about to sign on the dotted line when this came up.

"Then we thought, rather than us opening a shop and trying to represent ourselves to the world, we're going to be with another 50 small businesses.

"We loved the idea of working closely with other creative people."

Just a few days in, and she's certain they made the right decision.

"Every single customer that has come through has just been so chuffed at the idea, they say 'This is so Melbourne. Such a great idea, I hope this goes on and on.'

"Everyone is just buzzing."

Temporary Space

The Myre project isn't intended to be permanent. The building is part of a planned $220million redevelopment of King's Square set to commence in the next few years.

The hope is that the low rents and exposure will get the small enterprises in Myre on their feet and ready to move out on their own by the time they have to vacate.

"There's been a great deal of rhetoric about the death of retail, not just here but in other places as well, and in that broad sense I think this is a really important project in terms of testing the capacity of temporary use to change the way that cities work," Dr George says.

"I think it really helps to stimulate King's Square which has had its urban ailments.

"We're keeping different and later hours and spilling onto the square and lighting it up which contributes to a sense of use and inhabitation in Freo."